NBA notes

March 22, 2014 - 9:16 PM

Start spreading the news

Phil Jackson did what he always does — spin a few tales — when the guy who has won 11 NBA titles as a coach was introduced as the New York Knicks’ president of basketball operations presumably for the next five years at $12 million per season.

He told a story about when he was drafted by the Knicks in 1967 and boss Red Holzman and his wife picked Jackson up at JFK airport.

Jackson rolled into town while riding shotgun in Holzman’s convertible with Red’s wife, Selma, in the backseat. Their drive back into the city was disrupted when someone on an overpass threw a rock that cracked the car’s windshield.

Jackson said Holzman looked up and told him New York City isn’t the easiest place in the world to live but added, “But if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.”

Those words, of course, echo the now-famous song written a decade later for the film “New York, New York” and recorded after that by Frank Sinatra.

“That is where the phrase started, I swear,” Jackson said at his introductory news conference. “So we are going to make it here.”

That’s Professor Kahn to you

Ever wonder what happened to former Timberwolves president of basketball operations David Kahn?

Well, for one thing, he’s teaching a weekend class next month at alma mater New York University on the art of negotiating the big deal in sports, entertainment and real estate. Insert your own line here.